Not quite as good as hoped for

Fickle, unpredictable and not-quite-as-good-as-hoped for - it's been a typical British summer and a typically topsy-turvy butterfly season.

The year began brightly with large numbers of overwintering brimstones, but the next generation didn't make its presence felt in midsummer. It is a bit of a mystery why so few peacocks emerged, because their caterpillars were plentiful on nettles: some may have gone straight into hibernation, but it's likely that others fell victim to parasitic wasps and flies.